Case Study: Mark III Construction achieves reduced waste and increased productivity with PlanGrid Build

How Mark III Reduces Waste and Increases Productivity with Lean Construction

Mark III Construction is a California-based MEP contractor (founded 1976) with a culture of continuous improvement that set out to tackle a common industry problem: construction waste, low predictability, and uneven quality. The firm wanted to move manufacturing forward in construction to eliminate waste, increase productivity, and deliver more predictable, higher-quality projects for owners and GCs.

To do that Mark III launched Project Mountain, a self-funded R&D program that uses VDC workflows, cloud collaboration (Autodesk tools and PlanGrid), offsite fabrication, kitting (“build boxes”), and construction automation to prefabricate assemblies for onsite installation. The approach cut delivery time dramatically (stick-built corridor took three weeks vs. four days of manufacturing plus under four hours to install), shaved days off schedules (prefab wall panels removed three days from a ten-day plan), reduced waste, led to earlier completions, repeat business and new wins (including UC Davis), and set a goal to lower construction costs 16–20% while improving predictability and quality.

Mark III Construction

Makayla Oei

Project Executive